Mount Tom (13652') via Horton Lakes 6.21.08

A day hike to Mount Tom in the Eastern Sierra near Bishop, California. The flowers were out as well as the mosquitoes. My legs were tired from the start, so it turned out to be very slow going - a long 13 hour day for the 16 mile/5600' gain hike. The weather while I was out there was a combination of sun, clouds, light snow, light rain, and breezy at times.

I had planned to backpack into Horton Lakes and then try Mount Tom on Saturday and Basin Mountain on Sunday, but on Friday one of my old and sickly cats, Stinky, wasn't feeling good. I made an appointment with the Vet for Monday and decided to do a couple of day hikes over the weekend instead of a backpacking trip so I could check with with my son on Saturday night to see how Stinky was doing. When I got out to Bishop on Saturday night, I found a message on my phone from my son telling me to come home because Stinky was much worse. I left Bishop about 10 pm Saturday and had Stinky at the local animal hospital near Redlands at 3:30 am on Sunday. Stinky is never coming home from the hospital - his body was shutting down. I'm going to miss my Stinky.